Press freedom is never a given. It is threatened and should,
therefore, be defended. What is striking today is that, in addition to the
usual methods implemented by authoritarian regimes like censorship, threats
against journalists, financial pressure, denial of access to information,
political control and propaganda, new threats have emerged.
Large-scale online misinformation is undermining trust in
democratic institutions and processes, including the press. A common method is
to brand a media “mainstream” and pretend that there are other, more reliable
sources of information. Post-truth, alt-info, reliance on social media are
supposed to provide the public with the “real” news, hidden away from the
public. At a time when less and fewer people buy and read a newspaper or its
digital version, the trend to look for the information in non-professional
media is increasing. It is a dangerous trap.
These self-proclaimed alternative media are the way some
states, political parties or lobbies are pushing their own agenda: do away with
democracy and real journalism to better manipulate masses and achieve control
over them. Make the public believe it has a free opinion when it is only
prompted to believe the unbelievable. Blur the very definition of concepts as
freedom, peace or solidarity.
Democracy definitely needs free press and fact-checked
information because citizens are entitled to have access to reliable news so
that they can decide what is best for them. Trust is essential for democracy.
It cannot be achieved without transparency and accountability provided and
guaranteed by a free media.
Free and independent media have an important role in pushing
back against disinformation by providing access to accurate, fact-based and
verified information. In this context, it is essential that governments and
private entities address disinformation, foremost, by providing reliable
information themselves.
In 2019 France and Germany have launched the Alliance for
Multilateralism. Within this framework, the International Democracy and
Information Partnership, that gathers 35 countries, including Germany and
France, is committed to promoting national and international legal frameworks
encouraging freedom of opinion and expression and access to reliable
information. The partnership also invites businesses, which play key roles in
international news and information, to respect principles of transparency,
responsibility and neutrality and to ensure that their activities are
compatible with human rights in order to promote reliable information.
Free, independent and pluralistic media play an
indispensable role in informing the public during the ongoing COVID-19 crisis.
Everyone has the right to comprehensible, accessible, timely and reliable
information concerning the nature and level of the threat the virus poses to
their health, allowing them to follow evidence-based guidance on how to stay
safe.
This is why, in the light of COVID-19, the member-States of
the four Groups of Friends on the Safety of Journalists at UNESCO in Paris, in
the United Nations in New York and Geneva and at the OSCE in Vienna, have
called, in a joint statement on “safety of journalists and access to
information during the COVID-19 crisis”, April 15, all states to protect
journalists’ and media workers’ safety, safeguard a free and independent media,
ensure unhindered access to information, both online and offline.
Let us work together on this ambitious agenda. Let us
celebrate press freedom day and stand together for it, today and every day.
*The authors are Ambassador of Germany to Pakistan and
Ambassador of France to Pakistan respectively
Newspaper: The
News
